Optical thin films are widely used as crucial components in various electrical, optical and photovoltaic devices. Different structural thin films behave different functions; therefore, full understanding of the optical performance of different micro/nano-scale structured thin films is the foundation of designing and optimizing the specific functional devices. In this paper, the optical properties (light reflection, refraction and transmission) in homogeneous and inhomogeneous nanostructures are analyzed and the optical interaction with the nanostructures is investigated. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.